Public Facilities

The city of Anaheim should follow through on Councilman Irv Pickler's suggestion to ban smoking in the seating areas of the city-owned Anaheim Stadium and the soon-to-open Anaheim Arena. National health studies now leave no doubt that secondhand smoking is harmful to nonsmokers. Banning smoking in the city's public facilities is one way of protecting those who choose wisely not to smoke. If the City Council adopts a no-smoking rule for the stadium and arena, it will put them in good company.

President Bush on Thursday gave states and cities greater freedom to sell to private investors many public facilities built with federal help--including airports, bridges, roads and sewage treatment plants. Bush announced his action on an abbreviated trip to Ohio, where he spoke to the Ohio Assn. of Broadcasters.

The City Council is expected to adopt an ordinance today that Mayor Donald R. Roth has said means the "death of political signs in Anaheim." Illegal political signs, anyway. In response to a proliferation of signs in public rights of way during election campaigns, Roth--a candidate for county supervisor in the November election--and his colleagues on the council will vote on a law that prohibits the signs on such places as utility poles and street medians.

Re "Scout board delays action on gays," Feb. 7 Scouting originated in Britain, where the Scouts organization welcomes gays. Canada's Scouting organization and most in Europe do likewise. At the California Supreme Court, the Boy Scouts successfully argued that it is a religious organization. It later denied that it is a religious organization that would be required by California law to pay full commercial rent for use of government facilities. At the U.S. Supreme Court, the Boy Scouts argued that it is a private organization allowed to set standards for own members.

"Runoff Rules Get Tougher" (Dec. 14) did not fully explore the impact that new storm drain regulations will have on local communities. The article states that "city and county officials will also, for the first time, be required to clean up after parades and other special events." After every public event, cities clean up trash and debris. In Bellflower, the city removes more than 900 tons of debris every year resulting from community events and everyday activities. We sweep every street every week, some twice a week.

A Los Angeles gay rights organization has protested the decision by Manhattan Beach police to release — and many local media to publish — the names and photos of 18 men arrested in an undercover sex sting at a public restroom. Leaders of the Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Center contended that last week's release of the mug shots, names and birth dates of the men could lead to public humiliation and more severe consequences. The social service agency said one of the arrestees had reported to them that a fellow suspect attempted suicide after the results of the sting were made public.

Your editorial "Scout's dishonor" (March 15) skirts a serious issue. In 1998, the Boy Scouts convinced the California Supreme Court that they were a religious organization free to exclude atheists. In 2000, the Scouts convinced the U.S. Supreme Court that they were a private organization, free to discriminate when admitting members. In 2001, the Scouts convinced Congress that they were a public organization entitled to the same right to use public facilities as any other nonprofit.

The Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday approved studying the feasibility of levying a one-time fee on developers to fund new fire and library facilities in Sylmar, the city's fastest growing community in the 1980s. The study is needed because Sylmar's booming population has outstripped local city services, rendering them deficient, according to Councilman Ernani Bernardi. "This area is badly in need of new public facilities," he said Tuesday.

On Nov. 8, 1935, when Franklin D. Roosevelt was in his first term as President and "Mutiny on the Bounty" was a hit motion picture, Hazel Smith and Bill Williams fell in love on the hardwood floor of the old Hippodrome roller skating rink in Long Beach. She was 15. He was 19, an older man. Someone whose name has long since faded into obscurity introduced them, and they both knew then that it was love. He asked her to skate, and they did, holding hands for the rest of the night.